How to even begin to describe a book’s beauty that leaves you speechless?

5 stars to A Place for Us, an emotionally-evocative and profound story of family and belonging! 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

I read A Place for Us with the Traveling Sisters, a wonderful group of avid readers on Goodreads. I was the lone straggler, coming in with my thoughts late on this book, and while I wish I had been able to discuss more throughout reading, I felt such an intense connection to this book, I needed time to process. It was a total pleasure to read this with my sisters and an absolute honor to be chosen by Crown/SJP for Hogarth to receive physical copies for review!

A Place for Us is the story of an Indian-American Muslim family living in California. At the opening, the family has come together to celebrate the eldest daughter, Hadia’s, wedding. Amar, the estranged youngest brother, attends the wedding, after being away for years.

What unfolds is a gentle layering of time, past and present over decades, told in the voices of the family; all culminating in an honest portrait of this complex and loving family, with each member searching for belonging, or “place.”

A Place for Us was a book to read slowly and savor. One in which to reflect on my own life, on my family growing up, on my parents, and most especially, how small decisions made by family members can leave indelible marks. I felt profound connections to the genuine characters portrayed in this book due to the authenticity in the writing. Culture-aside, the issues at play within this family were universal; however, the culture embedded here was enlightening and thought-stirring.

Fatima Farheen Mirza has the ability to convey emotions in the most sincere and open ways, and she captures the vulnerabilities in people with honesty and grace. As with all books, each person will take away messages that are personal based on her/his own path towards identity and belonging, especially within one’s own family. A Place for Us is easily one of the best books I have ever read and gets my highest recommendation.

Thank you to the Traveling Sisters for this unforgettable group read, to Fatima Farheen Mirza for writing this treasure, Sarah Jessica Parker for selecting this book, Crown/SJP for Hogarth and Goodreads for sending us the physical copies for our group read, and to Netgalley.View all my reviews

Synopsis:

A Place for Us unfolds the lives of an Indian-American Muslim family, gathered together in their Californian hometown to celebrate the eldest daughter, Hadia’s, wedding–a match of love rather than tradition. It is here, on this momentous day, that Amar, the youngest of the siblings, reunites with his family for the first time in three years. Rafiq and Layla must now contend with the choices and betrayals that lead to their son’s estrangement–the reckoning of parents who strove to pass on their cultures and traditions to their children, and of children who in turn struggle to balance authenticity in themselves with loyalty to the home they came from.

In a narrative that spans decades and sees family life through the eyes of each member, A Place For Us charts the crucial moments in the family’s past, from the bonds that bring them together to the differences that pull them apart. And as siblings Hadia, Huda, and Amar attempt to carve out a life for themselves, they must reconcile their present culture with their parent’s faith, to tread a path between the old world and the new, and learn how the smallest decisions can lead to the deepest of betrayals.

A deeply affecting and resonant story, A Place for Us is truly a book for our times: a moving portrait of what it means to be an American family today, a novel of love, identity and belonging that eloquently examines what it means to be both American and Muslim-and announces Fatima Farheen Mirza as a major new literary talent.

Have you read any books that were so mesmerizing you had no idea how to describe them at first? Please tell me what books they were! Any plans to read A Place for Us? Happy Reading! ~ Jennifer THR